NGC 559 (Cadwell 8) Open Cluster in Cassiopeia
Ghost's Goblet
The faint open cluster Caldwell 8 (NGC 559) appears in my refractor as a tiny cup in the
western section of Cassiopeia. It is a rich cluster with the vast majority of its stars below
the resolution of my telescope -- thus appearing as a dim foggy smudge in the eyepiece.
Sir Patrick Moore listed this deep sky object as his number 8 (Caldwell 8). Stephen
O'Meara calls this cluster the Ghost's Goblet, He goes on to describe it as "The faint
glow of unresolved starlight within the cup seems to be a brew of fleeting vapors ... takes
on an eerie quality, that of a still photograph of a ghostly jeweled goblet in the act of
vanishing". In my drawing the cup is upside down and mirror reverse. Still you can see
the vapors filling and spilling from the cup. I drew the lines between the cup's stars to
make it more apparent.
western section of Cassiopeia. It is a rich cluster with the vast majority of its stars below
the resolution of my telescope -- thus appearing as a dim foggy smudge in the eyepiece.
Sir Patrick Moore listed this deep sky object as his number 8 (Caldwell 8). Stephen
O'Meara calls this cluster the Ghost's Goblet, He goes on to describe it as "The faint
glow of unresolved starlight within the cup seems to be a brew of fleeting vapors ... takes
on an eerie quality, that of a still photograph of a ghostly jeweled goblet in the act of
vanishing". In my drawing the cup is upside down and mirror reverse. Still you can see
the vapors filling and spilling from the cup. I drew the lines between the cup's stars to
make it more apparent.